Magazine for safety razor blades



l June 5,1944 s. c. STAMPLEMAN Erm.: 2,350,837

MAGAZINE FOR SAFETY RAZOR BLADES y original Filedmay 5, 1940 INVENTOR. Venus( C, iw/w. P wijz BY /W/7` ATH.

Patented June 6, 1944 4MAGAZINE FOR SAFETY RAZOR BLADES i Samuel C. Stampleman, Cohasset, and Joseph Muros, Cambridge, Mass., assignors to Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Original application May 3, 1940, Serial No. 333,166. Divided and this application October 24, 1941, Serial No. 416,306

7 claims.

This invention relates to safety razors of the type employing a thin flexible blade adapted to be removably supported and clamped in shaving position by o o-operating blade-engaging members. In one aspect the invention comprises a novel combination of safety razor and magazine so organized that used blades maybe removed from between the blade-clamping members of the razor mechanically and accurately without danger of cutting the lingers of theuser. In still another, aspect the invention consists in an improved magazine for used safety razor blades characterized by a restricted entrance through which the used blades may, pass only when narrowed by transverse bowing.

The novel combination of safety razor and magazine is the subject matter of our co-pending application Serial Number 333,166, led May 3, 1940, now Patent No. 2,270,790, of which the present application is a division. The improved magazine itself is claimed herein.

Our invention deals more especially with the problem of removing sharp edged blades from a safety razor in which the blade-clamping members are releasably but not detachably connected, that is to say, safety razors in which the clamping members are permanently maintained in superposed relation and are released for separation only suiciently to permit the used blade to be slipped out from between them. A safety razor of this type is disclosed in the prior patent to Joseph Muros, No. 1,953,685, April 3, 1934. For purposes of illustration the present invention is shown in its adaptation to a safety razor of that type, although it will be understood that the invention is not limited in scope to that or to any specific safety razor.

In general the objects of our invention are to' provide a blade-receiving magazine of ample capacity in which a substantial number of used blades may be collected and retained, the magazine being so constructed that it may be brought successively into engagement with blades actually located in the safety razor, withdraw one blade after another from the razor and deliver it automatically to the interior of the magazine. A further object is to provide a magazine of such construction that the sharp edges of the used blades will be dulled or rounded in being introduced therein, thus denitely distinguishing used from an unused blade.

With these and other objects in view an important feature of the invention consists in a magazine shaped to be forced over one of the having an entrance shaped for engaging and bowing a iiexible blade so that it may pass into the entrance opening which is narrower than the width of the ilat blade.

Another feature of the invention consists in blade-engaging elements arranged to contact with the blade when it has been thus received within the magazine and being effective to advance the blade positively out of the safety razor as the magazine as a whole is moved longitudinally with respect thereto, As herein shown the magazine is provided with blade-engaging flanges or the like which are spaced so as to receive between them the cap of the safety razor and to engage the blade at its opposite edges. Pressure exerted by the magazine is effective to narrow the blade by bowing it over its blade seatv in the razor and thus`bring it within the magazine and within range of blade-feeding elements which engage end edges of the blade and advance it positively when the magazine is moved longitudinally with respect to the razor.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are end views of the magazine in position on the razor;

Figs. 4 and 5 are plan views showing the magazine upon the razor in two different positions;

Figs. 6 and '7 are end views on an enlarged scale showing the magazine in empty and full condition respectively; and

Fig. 8 is a view in perspective also on an enlarged scale of thevshell of the magazine.

The magazine of our invention is herein shown in an embodiment designed particularly for use in connection with the safety razor of Patent No. 1,953,685 already identified. In the present blade-clamping members of a safety razor and drawing only so much of the razor Aconstruction is shown as is necessary for a full understanding of the invention and for further details of construction reference may be had to the said patent.

The razor comprises a handle Il carrying at its upper end a blade-supporting or guard member I0 which supplies a seat for the blade and is provided along both edges with downturned guard teeth. The guard member III is longitudinally shouldered, so that the blade may be iiexed transversely upon it, and co-operates with a cap member l2 having a concave blade-engaging face. The handle Il carries a spindle (not shown) in which is pivotally mounted a connector engaging an undercut guldeway in the concave face of the cap. I'he cap is always engaged by this connector and may be bodily moved through the medium thereof from a closed, bladeclamping position, wherein the blade is clamped under pronounced transverse curvature, to a released open position as shown in Fig. 1 wherein the blade rests in ilat condition upon the guard member I0. In one end of the guard is-provided a socket Il for receiving the key of a magazine whereby the latter may be properly located when the razor is to be supplied with fresh blades from a magazine rather than being supplied by hand.

The blades I3 herein shown and selected for illustrative purposes are double-edged blades of a well-known commercial construction and have corner notches defining elongated unsharpened end portions. The blades may be .004 to .006 inch in thickness and are consequently thin, flexible and resilient in their nature.

In using the razor herein shown fresh blades are presented by being lpushed endwise into position between the released guard and cap, temporarily displacing the connector in its movement and being then clamped in curved condition for shaving. At the conclusion of the shaving operation the guard and cap are released, allowing the blade to resume a ilat condition and it may now be withdrawn endwise from its position between the cap and guard. As already explained the purpose of the present invention is to provide means for mechanically removing used blades from a razor of this type and collecting or storing them safely without any danger of cutting the user. The magazine now to be described is designed and well adapted for this purpose.

As v herein shown. the magazine comprises a sheet metal shell rectangular in outline and comprising upper and lower compartments. The upper compartment is formed by the top wall 20 of the shell, side walls and an inserted stationary partition 26 from one end of which projects a key 29. The side walls of the main shell are shouldered and oll'set inwardly and the oft'set side walls 2| are provided at their lower edges with inturned flanges 22. The onset side walls 2|,

the partition 26 iitting above them and the flanges 22 form the lower compartment of the magazine and in this compartment the used blades are collected, while a stack of new sharp blades may be contained in the upper compartment and discharged one by one through an exit slot in one' of its end walls. The upper compartment and its feed mechanism operated by the knob f8 are the invention of Joseph Muros and are fully disclosed and claimed in his application, Serial Number 329,942. No further reference to them is. therefore, included in the present application.

The inturned flanges 22 extend longitudinally from one end of the shell to the other. serve as spaced abutment-s to bow the blade and define in the bottom of the enclosure a restricted entrance through which the successive blades must be passed in entering the magazine. 'I'hese inner edges are spaced apart by a distance slightly less than the width of the ilat blade, the width of the entrance being such that when the blade is narrowed by bowing it may be forced between the ilanges 22 and may then spring out and be supported in ilat condition by them. Vertically projecting flanges 23 and 24 are struck out of the offset walls 2| and these extend inwardly above the longitudinal flanges 22. They are of yieldingly opposing the entrance of the suc cessivs blades and for this purpose bears against the inner face of a loose partition 25 which normally rests upon the nanges 22, as shown in Fig.

Y 6, but may be displaced inwardly with the entrance of the nrst blade.

In using the magazine above described it will be assumed that the cap and guard members of the razor have been released from blade-flexing pressure and that a blade i3 rests in nai; position upon the blade seat of the guard member I0. As shown in Fig. l the magazine is then brought over the top'of the razor. being registered in the proper transverse position by the engagement of the vertical anges 23 and 2l with the edges of the cap |2. The longitudinal position of the magazine must be determined by the eye of the user and by locating the vertical flanges 23 and 2l in the cut-out corners of the blade as these are exposed beyond the edges of the cap i2. Having located the magazine as shown in Fig. 1 it is now depressed by the user, as suggested in Fig. 2, bowing the blade I3 upon the blade seat and causing the blade to be narrowed to an extent that it will pass between the flanges 22. In this operation the loose partition 25 is forced upwardly by the cap |2 against the compression of the spring 21 and the sharp blade edges are wiped across the flanges 22 and eectively dulled. When the edges of the blade |3 have been passed above the flanges 22 the bowed blade has made its entrance into the magazine. When pressure on the magazine is now released the blade straigtens out so that its edges extend beyond the ilanges 22 and into position to be supported from beneath by those ilanges. Meanwhile, the blade is held at its four corners by the -vertical ilanges 23 and 24 of the magazine. The parts described occupy this position as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The magazine is now moved toward the right, as indicated in Fig. 5, and in this movement the vertical anges 23 positively carry the blade |3 along with the magazine, sliding it toward the right between'the cap and guard of the safety razor and removing it completely therefrom. While the magazine is passing to the right over the razor the cap |2 is of course located between the partition 25 and the blade i3 which has just been delivered to the magazine. Subsequently. when the magazine leaves the razor, the partition 25 moves down into position just behind the newly delivered blade. Fig. 6 is an end view of the empty magazine showing the loose partition 25 in its initial position. Fig. 7 indioates the same magazine after it has received ten used and dulled blades and it will be noted that these have displaced the loose partition 25 so that it lies in contact with the upper blade of this stack.

It will be understood that the partition 26 fits securely and immovably into the upper part of the magazine above the shoulders which define the offset walls of the magazine. This partition forms a permanent bottom for the upper compartment of the magazine and a permanent top for the lower compartment. On the other hand, the partition 2i is loosely held between the offset walls of thelower compartment and isatalltimesfreetomoveup-and down against the measure of the spring 21.

Ordinarily the magazine will be distributed as a blade container with ten or more new sharp blades in its upper compartment.` These will be used up one by one and delivered to the lower compartment iu the manner .above explained. Wherr this-happensthe magazine' with the used and dull blades may be thrown away or returned to the manufacturer. l

Having thus disclosed our invention and described a specific embodiment thereof for illustrative purposes, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. A magazine for safety razor blades comprising an elongated enclosure having a restricted entrance defined by spaced longitudinal bladedulling ilanges. and transverse internal projections located above said anges for engaging end edges of a blade delivered to the magazine by having its sharp edges drawn across said bladedulling flanges.

2. A magazine for safety razor blades comprising a substantially rectangular enclosure having longitudinal walls and restricted entrance defined by spaced edge-dulling anges over whichv thesharp edges of a blade are drawn in entering the magazine, and transverse vertical projections extending inwardly from the longitudinal walls of the enclosure.

3. A magazine for safety razor blades comprising a sheet metal enclosure having side walls and a bottom wall with a .longitudinal opening bounded by nanges inturned from the side walls, and upright projections extending inwardly from its side walls and spaced apart to correspond to the length of a blade, in-combinationwith means for supporting a blade while it is bowed'by. ex- :einmal pressure against the flanges of the magae. 4. A magazine for safety razor blades includflatten out above the said flanges, and opposed upright anges extending inwardly from the side walls in position'to engage and register the entering blades by engaging in the corner recesses thereof and to maintain the unsharpened end portions of the blade within the enclosure.

6. A magazine for corner-recessed blades for safety razors, comprising a sheet metal enclosure having vertical side walls merging into lnturned horizontal ilanges spaced to admit blades in bowed condition between them, vertical flanges projecting inwardly from the side walls above the horizontal anges in position to register the entering blades by engaging in the corner recesses thereof, a loose partition resting upon said horizontal flanges between said vertical flanges, and a spring yieldingly holding the partition in place.

7. A magazine for safety razor blades, comprising a sheet metal shell of rectangular outline enclosing upper and lower compartments, a stationary partition between the compartments having an outwardly projecting key, lnturned anges formed by the lower edges of the shell` walls and providing spaced abutments for bowing transversely a flexible blade when the latter is forcibly pressed against them and for dulling its shaving edges as it passes into the lower compartment.

' SAMUEL C. STAMPLEMAN.

JOSEPH MUROS. 

